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Ashley Hardesty Odell focuses her practice on complex mass litigation matters, including serving as co-lead national litigation counsel for a retail chain grocery store and pharmacy. She also handles complicated insurance extra-contractual and bad faith litigation, and employment litigation. Ashley also enjoys counseling and advising employers on many workplace issues, including discrimination and harassment, wage and hourly issues, employee handbooks, workplace safety and employment agreements. Ashley has experience litigating many types of matters in both state and federal courts. In addition to her practice area focuses above, she continues to manage other litigation matters involving business disputes, commercial collections, construction litigation, property damage and personal injury defense. Her strong evaluation, management and advocacy skills allow her to routinely resolve her clients’ disputes efficiently, avoiding unnecessary litigation costs. She leads both the firm's Extracontractual/Bad Faith and Coverage Team and serves on the firm's Insurance Defense team. She was a co-author of the West Virginia section of Defense Research Institute’s 2015 State by State Insurance Bad Faith Law Compendium. In 2016, she was selected as a West Virginia Wonder Woman by West Virginia Living magazine. The award recognized women “who, through hard work and determination, have made West Virginia a better place to live.” She was also selected as a 2008 “Generation Next: 40 Under 40” award winner and as a 2010 Generation West Virginia Regional All-Star. In 2014, she received the Young Alumni Award from West Virginia University. She has served as president of the Monongalia County Bar Association, and is a graduate of Leadership Monongalia. From 2018 through 2021, Ashley served as Bowles Rice's Diversity Partner. She is a 2019 Fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity and has worked on diversity with both the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce’s Diversity Working Group and the Morgantown Area Partnership's diversity committee. Ashley continues to advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace, and is routinely invited to present to various groups on the topic. An active member of her community, Ashley has enjoyed being involved with many civic and professional organizations, including the North Central West Virginia Society for Human Resource Management, the WVU College of Law Visiting Committee, the Defense Trial Counsel of West Virginia, Defense Research Institute (DRI), the Morgantown Area Partnership, and United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties. She was a founder of Generation Morgantown and served on the economic development committee for Generation West Virginia and as a member of the Power of 32 Steering Committee.
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